Pursuant to point 9 Article 29, point d clause 2 Article 39 and point b clause 1 Article 37 Code of Civil Procedure 2015, petitions for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments or foreign decisions on divorce rendered outside of Vietnam shall fall under People’s Courts of provinces of the areas where the persons who are obliged to execute foreign courts judgments or decisions reside or work.
II. Prescriptive periods for filing applications for recognition and enforcement
The prescriptive periods for filing applications for recognition and enforcement as set forth in Article 432 Code of Civil Procedure 2015 is 03 years from the day on which the civil judgment/decision of a foreign Court takes legal effect.
III. Proceeding of recognition and enforcement
Step 1: Submit the documents to the Ministry of Justice (within the prescriptive periods mentioned above)
Step 2: The Ministry of Justice forwards the documents to the authorized Courts (05 working days)
Step 3: The Courts accept the dossier and work on the petition
Step 4: Preparation for consideration of applications (04 months from the
day on which the application was accepted). On a case-by-case basis, the Court shall issue one of the following decisions:
– To suspend the consideration of the application;
– To terminate the consideration of the application;
– To hold a meeting for considering the application.
Step 5: The Courts issue decision whether to refuse or recognize and enforce the foreign judgments and foreign decisions.
IV. Dossier for recognition and enforcement
The dossier for recognition and enforcement include an application and other documents enclosed thereof. Applications for recognition and enforcement pursuant to Article 433 of Code of Civil Procedure 2015 must contain the following principal details:
1. Full names and addresses of residence places or work places of the judgment creditors or their lawful representatives;
2. Full names and addresses of residence places or work places of the judgments debtors; in cases where the judgment debtors being individuals not having residence places or work places in Vietnam, their applications must also specify the addresses of the places at which the properties and assorted properties relating to the enforcement in Vietnam of foreign courts’ civil judgments/decisions exist;
3. Requests from judgment creditors; if foreign courts’ judgments/decisions have been partly enforced, the judgment creditors must clearly state the executed parts and the remaining parts requested for recognition and continued enforcement in Vietnam.
Applications in foreign languages must be accompanied by their Vietnamese versions which are duly notarized or authenticated.
The documents to be required to be enclosed with the application
with the following papers and documents:
1. Originals or certified copies of the judgment/decision issued by the foreign Court;
2. Documents made by the foreign Court or other competent foreign agencies certifying that such judgment/decision has taken legal effect, has not expired and should be enforced in Vietnam, except for when the details have already been clearly stated in the judgment/decision;
3. Documents made by the foreign Court or other competent foreign agencies certifying the lawful delivery of such judgment/decision to the judgment debtors who have to execute such judgments/decisions;
4. Documents made by the foreign Court or other competent foreign agencies certifying that they have been duly summoned are required in cases where the foreign Court rendered the judgment in the absence of the judgment debtors or their lawful representatives.
Documents enclosed with the application that are in foreign languages must be accompanied by their Vietnamese versions which are duly notarized or authenticated.
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